Another great 3-cushion billiard room in Houston Texas - Huy Hoang Billiard - has jumped onto the tournament bandwagon. Tan Ho the owner of Huy Hoang (also known as "HH") held an open handicapped tournament on July 30, 2016. With 6 recently re-covered Gabriels tables, the players turned out for a great day of billiards and friendship. The winner was A-player Miguel Candon, who is visiting Houston from Venezuela for the summer. Miguel has been making the rounds to some of the local three cushion rooms in town and has made quite an impression with the local players! Second place went to C-player Chau D, third went to top B-player Jorge Gonzales and 4th to the ever dangerous C-player Jay Karahan. (Pictured above L to R - Jay, Jorge, Miguel and Chau.)
As usual the handicaps were set by tribal knowledge, folklore and guesswork. But the players are all known to each other and everyone seemed happy and eager to get started. The "A" players played to 18, "B" players to 15 and "C" players to 12. A few small adjustments were made and the tournament was set to go.
The event was run in two phases. 14 players were divided into 4 round robin groups of either 3 or 4 players (by blind draw.) The top two from each flight moved on to the single elimination 8-man knock-out finals. The group winners and their handicaps were Hearts - Minh Nguyen (B) and Chau D (C); Spades - Jay Karahan (C) and Jorge Gonzales (B); Clubs - Bot Pham (B-) and Tin Huynh (C); and Diamonds - Tim Nguyen (A) and Miguel Candon (A).
In the knock-out phase Miguel reached the finals by first beating Tin, then Jorge. Chau made it through by prevailing over Minh and then Jay. In the final round Miguel showed why he was rated "A", as he never lost control, made up the 6 point handicap and closed the event to take the $300 first prize. Second place to Chau was worth $200. Jay and Jorge played a consolation match, won by Jorge to take 3rd and $100. Jay once again grabs back his $50 entry fee with fourth place money. Truly a fun day. Check out the picture gallery below.
And of course everyone immediately asked... "When is the next event?" Owner Tan Ho smiled and said "Soon... very soon."
